A Troubling Circumstance
by Angel in Exile
Summary: A few days after befriending a woman, Conan's life becomes more and more complicated, and there is something he just can't figure out... Who and why someone would be after Rachel, Richard, and himself!
1. Chapter 1

_I just love Case Closed! Right now, I'm watching the series from start to finish to catch up with the episodes I've missed. This is just something I came up with, but don't hate me for my own character being in it. I put alot of effort in making up plots for all of my stories, and if no one read some of them, that would just suck. Jk, if you want to read, you'll read A.A Sorry it is so short, but I have to leave room for the next chapter, too! If you want to complain to me, feel free to, and if you have any questions, comments, ideas, or otherwise, I would love to hear what you think!_

"Hey," Rachel called out across the street to a silver-haired girl, running to meet her. The girl flashed a smile, her crystalline blue eyes gleaming. "Hey, Rachel! Hey, word going around is that you have this 'great mystery boyfriend' that's a detective? Why don't I see you with him?" "Well, he keeps telling me that he's on this 'major case' that he hasn't been able to solve, and nobody knows where he is, Sessho." Rachel sighed. "Its not like my dad liked him anyway." she laughed cutely. "Jimmy kept solving all of his cases."

Sessho grinned. "So your old man's jeaous of your boyfriend, eh? How funny is that?" As they entered Mr. Moore's (sp?) office, the two laughed together. Looking around, Sessho tilted her head. "Hey, where's-" before she could finish, Conan zipped past them, followed by an angry Richard.

Smirking, Sessho subtley put her foot out, and watched as he fell onto his face. "Ha! Nice one, Sessho!" Conan grinned and gave her a high-five. Rolling her eyes, Rachel walked past them. "So, Dad, any new cases?" "Not right now, Rachel." he growled. Smiling, Sessho waved. "Hey, I'm gonna go run to the store. If I'm not back in ten, come get me!" she laughed, waving as she left.

Before long, a half hour had passed. "Hey, Conan... I think we should probably go look for her now..." Rachel suggested worriedly. Nodding seriously, Conan followed her out onto the sidewalk. Looking around, he caught sight of a faint red shimmer, trailing down one of the cracks in the sidewalk, and followed the crimson trail into an alley.

At Conan's shocked expression, Rachel ran into the alley with him. At their feet, Sessho was curled up, bleeding profusely from a wound in her leg. She cried out in pain, and suddenly noticed them. "Sessho! Are you alright?" Rachel asked hurriedly. Nodding, Sessho struggled to her feet. "Yes, I'm fine. But I was really just in the way of the person. He was trying to get to you three-- is what he told me-- and I blocked his path. But as soon as he got to running away, he was hit by a car." she relayed calmly.

With eyes narrowed in suspiscion, he looked down the street for the man's corpse._ How could she be so calm??_ He wondered. "Here, we'll call an ambulance!" Rachel offered. Sessho shook her head quickly. "Please, I'm just fine, I don't want an ambulance! I can bandage it on my own." she argued. But, as she tried to take her first step, her leg gave in, and she collapsed onto the ground. Obviously, Rachel had taken it upon herself to help Sessho back inside, and Conan followed them in.

But Sessho's face was so disturbingly calm, it just served to make him wonder all the more. Innocently, he walked up to her. "Hey, Sessho," She looked up at him, smiling in an almost motherly fashion. "Yes, Conan?" She only confused him more and more by the second. "I was just wondering why you're so calm while you do that! I mean, if it were me, I wouldn't even want to _touch_ it!" Smiling at him, she ruffled his hair. "You're so kawaii! But what do you take me for? Geez! Its not like I haven't been cut before! I _can be_ quite a klutz, sometimes, you know. --Not that it's a good thing, though, it actually quite sucks!" she grinned. Rolling his eyes, Conan sighed. _This is geting nowhere!_ Sheepishly, he smiled back at her. "Hey, Sessho, what kind of stuff do you do that keeps you so fit? I mean, you have to keep that nice body somehow, right?" Raising a delicate eyebrow, she tied off the bandage. "Well, I'm okay with swords, but I never really got to finish my training... Oh! I run around alot... um, I'm pretty good with hand-to-hand combat... and don't ask why, but I'm also quite proficient in gymnastics. Well, I do alot of different kinds of things, Conan, but I don't think you should be thinking about girls' _bodies_ at such a young age." Under her breath, he just barely heard her add. "But that doesn't stop some of 'em..." Standing up, he could see that she was assessing (sp?) her wound. "Well, then," she sighed. "I guess I'm going to need crutches, after all. The man severed one of the muscles in my leg."

"Oh, Sessho!" Rachel gasped. "I think we have crutches..." with that, she disappeared into the closet, and pulled out crutches. "Here you go," she smiled. Smiling back, Sessho took them, and used them to get to a drunken Richard. Annoyedly, she hit him in the head with one of them, effectively waking him up and sobering him up simultaneously. "What the... What the heck was that for?!" he shouted as she shok her head. What Conan noticed, was her incredible balance and maneuvering. When she had hit him, neither of her feet were on the floor; instead, she balanced on the crutch that she wasn't hitting Richard with using her free arm. _Who is this woman??_ He thought in frustration.

As if sensing his thoughts, she turned to him. "What's got you so puzzled, Conan?" she asked curiously. Leaning forward, she whispered in his ear. "Or should I say... Jimmy?" she smirked.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey people! Sorry that it usually takes me so long to update, I don't always have access to the internet... P.S. I don't know if this is what you meant, but at least I tried! -.-'_

Sessho smirked down at Connan's shocked expression, and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, Rachel, I'm going to go get some lunch, do you guys want to come?" She asked, smiling as if she hadn't said anything at all to Conan. He just couldn't figure this girl out!! At their eager nods, Sessho smiled widely, and led them down to the nearby diner. It was where Conan had solved a case before... interesting.

"Hey, Rachel," They heard someone call from the other side of the diner. Looking around, they saw Michel, who waved from a corner booth. Smiling, the two girls dragged Conan with them over to his table.

"Hi, Michel," Rachel smiled.

"Hey, Rachel," He smiled back. "Who's your friend?" he asked curiously. Sessho smiled awkwardly at him.

"Sorry, this is Sessho, she lives next door to us." Rachel smiled, putting an arm on Sessho's shoulder. Sessho waved awkwardly, smiling sheepishly.

"Hi," Michel smiled smoothly. "I'm Michel," He offered his hand. But when she took it, instead of shaking her hand, he kissed it, making her blush a pretty red. With one of his lips twitching, Conan kicked him in the shin.

"Do you do that to every girl you meet?" He complained, watching Michel cry out in pain. Smiling in that motherly fashion again, Sessho ruffled his hair.

"Awww, Conan, it's so cute that you care! But I'm alright, there's no need to go around kicking people in the shin anymore, okay?"

"Hey, why don't you sit down with me?" Michel offered, pulling Sessho to sit down next to him. Shrugging, Sessho motioned for Conan and Rachel to sit as well.

"So what happened to your leg, Sessho?" he asked curiously as a news report of a hit-and-run accident came on the little TV on the counter.

Sessho smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, I um, got in the way of someone who was trying to murder Rachel, Conan, and Richard... but I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about." She smiled brightly. _Well, that was confusing, a severed muscle is nothing to worry about, huh?_ Conan shook his head. _Confusing woman..._

"Hey, Sessho, do you know why that man wanted to kill us?" Conan asked curiously. Putting a finger to her chin, the silver-haired girl thought about it, but shook her head in defeat.

"I don't really know, Conan. I think he may have... no, that's just stupid..." She frowned, but then smiled. "I just don't know! Do you think the "Great Detective Serena" would help me out to find out why?" _That's odd, the other day, she was ranting on about how Serena couldn't detect her way to the bathroom without help. What's with the change in opinion? It almost seems like she's trying to protect us from someone by not getting us involved..._

"But, Sessho, why don't you have Richard try to figure it out? I mean, he _is_ the famous detective Moore." Conan reasoned. Sessho tilted her head curiously.

"Why? A detective is a detective no matter how famous. I think it might be best if it was someone who wouldn't look suspiscious doing it, anyway. What I'm guessing is that someone had payed that man to do it, and if Mr. Moore was looking into it, he might feel the need to speed up his attempts and/or try harder to get the job done. I would have thought you would have thought of that already, Conan."

She was right! How could he have over-looked something so simple? But she knew something, he had a gut feeling that she had a theory of why or who, and she was with-holding it. _But why?_ That was what he _couldn't_ figure out. If she knew something, and was trying to protect them, why wouldn't she tell him? She knew who he was, so why not tell him? Was there someone listening in?

Looking around, he saw a blond woman leaving, whom Sessho seemed to be watching out of the corner of her eye, still managing to be in tune with the convesation. Deciding ot investigate for himself, he got up and ran after the woman, who had just dropped her bag.

Picking it up, he grinned at her. "Here you go, lady! You dropped your purse!" But she only frowned down at him, and snatched it away. Conan noticed that Sessho stood up as soon as he had ran toward the woman, and followed him worriedly.

"Conan! I'm sure she would've been just fine picking it up herself! Obviously, she didn't want anyone to touch it! Now, don't do that again!" She sounded genuinely worried, which only served to confuse him all the more.

Sessho put one of the crutches onto her back, and picked Conan up with one arm, quickly carrying him back to the table. The woman snorted and left the diner after shooting a glare in Sessho's direction. Sessho frowned and sat Conan back down, before sitting down, herself.

"Do you know that lady, Sessho?" Conan asked curiously. Sessho shook her head, and was about to say something, before stopping, and looking around, and then under the table.

"Get away from the table!" She shouted suddenly, pulling Michel away from it as Rachel and Conan got away from it as well. For a moment, there was a deadly calm. It was like the calm before the storm; you knew something big was coming, but it wasn't there just yet.

All of a sudden, the table exploded, sending blocks of wood and flames flying everywhere. Rachel and Conan, being the furthest away, could only feel the immense heat, while Sessho rolled on top of Michel, taking a blow to the head from a block of wood. As she got onto her forearms, she skilfully pushed Michel so hard away from her that he rolled all the way to the front doors, while another blast blew her into what used to be the counter.

Debris from the ceiling began to cave in around her, blazing as the rest of the place was.

"Sessho!" Her three friends chorused as firemen began to extinguish most of the fire, and run in to look for survivors.

After they had pulled Sessho out, and were looking her over, one of the medics tending to her got up solemnly, and took off his hat.

"I'm sorry, your friend doesn't look so good for her. She'll last another hour at best, but... she's going to die."


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey, people! I'm going to try to make this one longer, but no guarantees. XD Hope you like it, and don't feel too bad about the murder victim... _

"W- what?" Conan gasped. He had just been on the verge of learning something important! He could feel it! But now this? What the hell was going on here? Who could've known the exact table where they would sit? It frustrated him to no end when something got in the way of him figuring something out! And that was just what was happening--now he would _never_ know _anything_ about the murder attempts, _and_ to complicate it even more, even though he had tried so hard to protect Rachel and the others, they were _all _in danger!

Why did _everything_ _always_ turn around and bite him in the ass?! It just made him wish that pill actually _did_ kill him sometimes! He _hated_ it that he couldn't do anything to protect everyone--any evidence the person could have left was probably _blown to bits_ from the bomb! He fell to his knees and pounded his fists on the ground, growling in frustration.

But he had to find out all that he could from Sessho before she died! Rushing over to where his friend lay, he pushed the medics out of the way. She wasn't in as bad a condition as he had expected, though. Her face was bloody and slightly bruised, as well as the rest of her body, and she looked to be in quite a bit of pain, but she looked up at him, her body momentarily calm.

"Sessho, tell me all of what you can." he demanded softly, cupping her cheek.

"C- Conan..." she stuttered, coughing up blood, and struggling to sit up. When a medic went to push her back down, she bit his hand through the glove he wore.

"Don't... touch me." They could hear her threaten in a low voice as the man pulled his hand back.

"Conan, I... need you to listen... to me. I _will not die._ But you do... have the right to... know... who that woman... is. Her name... is Acacia... Miaku... but she isn't in any... records... She is..." But she fell unconscious before completing her sentence. Worriedly, he shook her by the shoulders.

"Sessho! Sessho, she's what? What were you going to tell me? Please, Sessho, you have to wake up!" He cried. Fortunately, his wish came true as she began to wake up. But he noticed something peculiar. Her eyes seemed to be an eerie white, and it almost seemed as if electricity was jumping across her skin. Who _was_ this woman? _I mean, who is she actually? I just can't figure this woman out! She's what, 23--has her own apartment, but what did they really know about her? We have to look in to that, maybe I'll have the Doc hire Mr. Moore to investigate her? No, for now I need to figure out what she was going to say!_

But her expression was so blankly calm, it was almost unnerving. Only the whites in her eyes were visible, but she slowly rose to her feet. She was like a puppet, being pulled up and around by some invisible pupperteer. She didn't even spare him a glance for at least five minutes, and when she finally did, her crystalline blue eyes were fixed on him, and the eerie glow had dispersed from her skin.

_What the hell just happened? She's supposed to be on her deathbed! How the hell is she standing up? It isn't possible that the medics were wrong! They couldn't have been! I had seen her be crushed by that debris! What the hell is with this woman?!_

"Conan," she began, putting a hand on his head and smiling softly. "I'm going to... sleep... for a while... so... don't... worry about me... just taaaakke... me to my... apartment..." She yawned, and slumped over in a heavy sleep on top of Conan. Needless to say, the medics were very shocked. Both Rachel and Michel rushed over and picked up their slumbering friend.

"She said to take her to her apartment," Conan sighed, following Rachel and Michel. Some of the medics chased after them, but Rachel shook her head solemnly, and they let her go.

Funny, they had never actually been into her apartment, before, he noticed as they each looked around. Everything was expertly organized, and the only furniture she had were a sofa, coffee table, dining room set, and a desk, by another sofa. There weren't any dirty dishes in the sink, no messes anywhere--it was almost as if no one even lived in this place!

Quietly, he watched them rest Sessho on one of the sofas, and Conan went into the other room to look around. That one, he guessed, was the room she slept in. On the dresser next to the bed, there was a cell phone, and a sketch-book that seemed quite old and worn, an the bedspread contrasted with the white color scheme of the front portion, being mostly black and red. On the walls, there were various blades, and weapons, and on another desk, she seemed to have been mixing chemicals.

When he looked through her drawers, there were many neatly folded business suits, but below them were some more strange clothing. That clothing looked much more appropiate for travelling in the past centuries, and some were inexplicable--looking so odd and intricate he couldn't classify them well-enough. But under them, was an old dusty journal.

_Bingo!_ That would shine some light on things! But upon opening it, he found it to be in some strange foreign writing he did not recognize at all. He sighed, long and deep, this woman was smart, and very good at covering her tracks. The next best alternative was the sketch-book on her dresser.

Flipping it open, a well-drawn man's face smiled up at him from a yellowed page. His expression gave Conan the itching suspiscion that he was a father to some one. Gingerly, he skimmed through the stale pages, and watched face after face, scene after scene on each page.

He noticed some people appear more than once, one appearing to be some sort of lover, and the other a possible infatuation. But one that stood out to him was one of the first few faces to manifest itself in the book. From the supporting evidance, it stood to reason the Sesho wasn't very particular of the woman. She was wearing some kind of plate armor--even though she flaunted most of what she had, anyway-- but what struck him was that she looked exactly like... the woman from the diner! Yes, Sessho had tried to tell him something about her, but she had never finished! Now, he only had to decipher the meaning of all of this, and interperet that strange language, and he would have some juicy clues about who Sessho...

Conan paused momentarily in thought, and then his eyes widened. Her last name was Miaku! _Could that woman have been her mother?_ Conan thought excitedly, fitting the two pieces together. But the more he thought of it, the more it confused him. At every seeming answer, more questions came up. Why did he need to know who her mother was? Was she somehow involved in the bombing? Why did Sessho seem so afraid of her at the diner?

Crying out in frustration, Conan held his head. _Its all so confusing! I'm not getting anywhere with this!_ There was a cry of surprise from the kitchen, and Conan rushed in to see if Rachel was alright. He sighed in relief to see that his newfound mystery had awoken, and was sitting up on the sofa.

"Caaaaannn you call Sereeeenna to ask her to do a case for me?" she yawned. Michel had almost immediately come to her side, and placed a soft had on her back.

"Are you alright, Sessho? Do you feel okay?" he asked worriedly, lifting her chin and looking into her eyes. She looked shaken, and hugged herself tightly.

"That ceiling just barely missed me. But I rolled out of the way just in time. It was horrifying." Her voice shook with her shoulders, and moments later, she was coughing up blood. Conan could tell Michel was doing all he thought he could do when he hugged the smaller woman's fragile frame to him.

"Sessho," Conan asked seriously. "Are you alright? What's the matter?" When her coughing fit had ended, she gasped for breath, and gripped Michel's shirt tightly, and they could hear her gloves tighten as she did so.

"Nothing that wasn't already there," she confessed quietly. "I have severe lung cancer, that's all." Solemnly, Michel hugged her tighter, and rested his chin on her head.

"Sessho," Rachel gasped. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Why didn't you tell us before? Is there anything else we should know about?" Silently, their mysterious friend shook her head, and hugged Michel's neck as tears began to trickle down her face.

"What is it, Sessho?" Conan asked worriedly. Michel lifted her head gently, and wiped the tear trails away with the pad of his thumb, but more still came.

"It's all my fault!" she wailed quietly and eerily. "If I hadn't offered to take you to lunch, those other people wouldn't have died! I'm sorry! I don't know who it is, but some one's been trying to kill me, and they've killed everyone I get close to!" she took a shuddering breath, and buried her face in Michel's shirt.

Rachel placidly went to the phone on the wall, and dialed up Serena. Their conversation was almost inaudible, and the shining moon seemed to be taunting them from its place away from all of the world's problems as Michel stroked the delicate woman's hair.

But there was an itching sensation in Conan that told him that something was wrong.

At least an hour later, Serena arrived on the doorstep, and peered inside past Rachel. Sessho had long since cried herself to sleep, and Michel had gone to rocking back and forth with her in his lap as she slept.

"I saw the news on t.v., Rachel. Is everyone okay?" she asked worriedly. Rachel nodded, and let her in. Sessho had become popular with the high school students since she had started a store on that street, and started hiring alot of them since it was so big and she had bought out two or three of the previous stores there. As matter of fact, she was both Rachel and Serena's employer!

Tenderly, Michel woke Sessho, and hushedly told her that Serena was there. Without obvious reason, no one felt it appropriate to speak too loudly. Sessho looked sleepily from Michel to Serena, and then gingerly spun around in his lap to face her, cringing as the leg with the severed tendon brushed against Michel's.

"Thank you for agreeing to investigate this for me, Serena." The strain on the poor woman's face was unmistakable, but she leaned on Michel for support in an attempt to seem relaxed. Serena nodded with resolve.

"I'll do everything I can to help bring this criminal to justice!" she fisted a hand in determination. Sessho smiled softly at her as if she were smiling at a child, but no one besides Conan seemed to notice.

"I would be ever so grateful if you would look into who hired that man to kill Rachel, Conan, and Mr. Moore."

Serena spent the next few days with her nose in books, livng in the library, and surfing the web.

"Sessho," Serena breathed, running through the door of Mr. Moore's office. "I've got something! ...Sessho? ...Rachel? Is anyone here?" she called, noticing the office was strangely empty.

"Conan? Is anybody here?" she called once more. "Mr. Moore," but she didn't have the chance to finish her sentence, as someone gagged her, and threw her down.

"I can't wait to call Serena up and see if she's finally got something! What about you, Sessho?" Rachel smiled. Sessho smiled back, opening the door for everyone to Richard's office.

"No, neither can I, Rachel," Sessho's eyes widened a fraction, stopping at the door. A red liquid seeped down the cracks, and pooled over onto the tiles just before her feet. Staggering back, she grabbed Michel for balance.

"What's wrong, Sessho?" he asked worriedly. Silently, Conan noticed that she didn't seem all too mortified, at all, but deicded to say nothing at the moment. But upon looking inside, he found that she had every reason_ to_ be mortififed and horrified. Serena's mangled and dismembered remains lay scattered across the office, and even on the desk.

Sessho's fingers were already at her phone, dialing the emergency and police. But Conan couldn't help but wonder... did she have something to do with the death of their good friend, Serena?


End file.
